NAEB Newsletter (October 20, 1936)

N-A-E-B NEWS LETTEP

National Association of Educational Broadcasters
Madison, Wisconsin—October 20, 1936

F.C.C. ALLOCATION HEARING

The NAEB was represented at the allocation hearing before the Federal Communi¬
cations Commission on October 5, 1936 by Prof. Edward Bennett of the University of
Wisconsin and President H. B. McCarty, with a statement included from R. C. Higgy,
Station WOSU. The case was based on the necessity for recognizing social consider¬
ations, as well as those purely technical, in making any study of allocations.
Complete copies of both speeches will be sent to all NAEB members, in the next few
days. BROADCASTING magazine, Oct. 15, contains an extensive report of the hearing.
’’Read all about it”l And allow for the bias.

OFFICERS ELECTED FOR THE YEAR 1936 - 1957

President II. B. McCarty, WHA, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Vice Pres. Carl Menzer, WSUI, University of Iowa, Iowa City
Secy-Treas. B. B. Brackett, KUSD, University of South Dakota, Vermillion

Executive
Committee: C.

R.

E.

F.
W.
C.

Exec. Secretary

E. Daramon, V/BAA, Purdue, West Lafayette, Indiana
C. Higgy, WOSU, Ohio State University, Columbus
P. Humbert, WTAW, Texas A & M, College Station

F. Nalder, KWSC, Washington State College, Pullman
E. Phillips, WILL, University of Illinois, Champaign
A. Taylor, WESG, Cornell Univer, ity, Ithaca, New York

H. A. Engel, WHA, University of Wisconsin, Madison

NAEB CONVENTION NOTES

The NAEB meeting in Madison August 17-18 brought together a fine group of
earnest educational station workers. Two days of discussion and conference re¬
sulted in renewal of conviction and effort to explore and assert the place of
education on the air.

Supplementing intimate talk of station problems, program ideas, and recording
techniques, speakers from Washington and New York focused attention on national de¬
velopments. C. M. Jansky, Jr., Consulting Radio Engineer, gave a thorough analysis
of allocation problems and fundamental engineering principles affecting educational
stations at the Oct. 5th F.C.C. hearing. He stressed the importance of considera¬
tions such as freouency assignment, territorial location, and station efficiency,
as well as power. Fading and interference characteristics of ultra-high frequencies
were also described.

S. Howard Evans, Secretary of the National Committee on Education by Radio, in
a stimulating talk gave assurance of continued support to educational stations irom
the National Committee. He pointed to present obstacles and inequalities and called
for the three parties most vitally concerned in broadcasting to face their responsi¬
bilities squarely. ’’The government,” he said, ’’must determine what the status of
its regulating body shall be. Commercial broadcasters must recognize their limita—^
tions and admit that they cannot do the whole .job of broadcasting. And non-commercial
interests must find the money and the means to be more constructive in their radio
activities.”

William D. Boutwell, of the U.S. Office of Education, reported on the Federal
Radio Education Project and told of its growth and plans. Program production by an
agency of the federal government is a significant development in educational broad¬
casting, and NAEB members will do well to keep in touch with this activity, (Write
to the Office of Education for the bulletin, Airways to Learning, if you haven’t seen
a copy.) Boutwell proposed publication of a brochure telling the story of education¬
al stations and offered the assistance of his office in editing material. Ev^ns
agreed to solicit funds .^or printing from the National Committee on Education by
Radio and was successful in doing so. Our thanks to Boutwell and Evans and their
organizations.

2

EDUCATIONAL RADIO BROCHURE

The booklet, to be made up from the data and pictures submitted by stations
in reply to a rush call a few weeks ago, is now in the process of being prepared
for distribution. The Federal Radio Education Project and the National Committee
on Education by Radio are cooperating in producing it. Copies will be sent to
members as soon as they are available.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING

Our Association is one of the sponsoring organizations for the National Con¬
ference on Educational Broadcasting to be held in Washington December 10-12.
Programs, out soon, reveal an impressive array of national leaders scheduled to
direct thinking on all aspects of educational broadcasting. Better make plans now
to attend. NAEB should be well represented.

ASSOCIATION TRANSCRIPTION EQUIPMENT

The recording device acquired last spring by the NAEB for demonstration work
is much in demand. Carl Menzer, at WSUI, Iowa City, is handling the machine and
routing it to those who wish to use it. Neatly packed in a substantial shipping
case the machine is on a circuit which is taking it to several member stations.
Applications to use the recorder should be sent to Mr. Menzer, Several stations
already have their own recorders, and more are planning to acquire them.

AGAIN - THE PACKET EXCHANGE

Already some members have started sending bulletins and material for the "ex¬
change packet". This activity bases its continuance on the support of members who
supply the pieces to be distributed. Your new fall bulletins must now be ready.
Leave a memo for your secretary to send 50 copies of everything you have for dis¬
tribution to the Secretory. By this exchange of ideas we can do much to further
the cause of education on the air.

KWSC - STATE COLLEGE OF WASHINGTON

Director Frank Nalder says, "Radio Station KWSC at Pullman, Washington is re¬
joicing in the possession of a new vertical antenna which has been erected on its
main tower by student technicians during the past months. An additional feature
of its equipment is a copper wire counterpoise made of thousands of feet of No. 10
copper wire, buried in the ground and radiating in all directions from the tower.

Radio Station KWSC depends entirely upon student help for its technical and
announcing staff. The Directors of the station are making it a strong means of
education of young people in the radio arts and practices. As a result, many grad¬
uates of the college are filling important radio positions throughout the United
States.

KFDY - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE COLLEGE

With a smile we note an application of the old saying, "It's an ill wind which
blows no one some good." S. W. Jones writes, "A news-note concerns our football
broadcasting booth. Our old booth, which was very inadequate, burned up (appropri¬
ately enough’.) during a firemen’s convention which was held in Brookings last spring.
The new booth contains broadcast as well as public address facilities, and enables
the announcing staff to put out a description of the game without fear of mechanical
break-down during the broadcast. The new booth is greatly enlarged and thoroughly
insulated."

WBAA - PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Clarence Damrnon sends an interesting letter in which he gives a lot of news
about his station. He says, in part, "First of all we have had our first auditions
for new announcers. We had over one hundred applicants. About twenty-five will be
selected to be put on probation for an indefinite period. If they demonstrate the
desired qualities, they will be assigned to the regular staff. Twelve regulars from

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last year's staff have returned. Three of our last year's staff now have positions
with other radio stations.

’’The second item is that we have resumed our broadcasts for the Arsenal Tech¬
nical Schools of Indianapolis and increased the number of programs integrated with
courses to ten. The listening audience will vary from one hundred to seven thou¬
sand for these programs.

"The third item is that we have -initiated a cooperative arrangement with the
Lafayette City Schools to broadcast three programs to the grade schools. Geography
in the News will be broadcast to the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Story Time
will be broadcast to the first, second, and third grades, and Great Inventions and
Their Inventors to the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. We shall continue our
studio in the Jefferson High School in Lafayette from which we will broadcast a
weekly one-half hour program on Wednesdays by the high school students, and a pro¬
gram on Fridays by one of the grade schools. There are nine grade schools in
Lafayette.

"Perhaps the most outstanding experiment this season will be our Hoosier Town
Hall. Each Thursday from 11:00 to 11:50 we will broadcast from the class room of
Professor Lull a discussion of the technique and principles of public discussion
and argumentation. Thr.s instruction will be related to a definite current subject.

By previous arrangements with luncheon clubs, schools, etc. in nearby communities,
we will assign succeeding dates to certain communities for an actual public dis¬
cussion to be held in cooperation with this broadcast. These groups will be res¬
ponsible for promoting the forum and urging all the people to listen to the broadcast
on Thursday morning. Then two members of the class will be sent out by the Univer¬
sity to the community to conduct the actual public forum. If the individual has
listened to the broadcast, he has received instructions as to form and techniques
and an introduction to the subject to be discussed."

WTAW - A & M COLLEGE OF TEXAS

"Radio Station WTAW," reports Director E. P. Humbert, "completed one yeer of
its Farm and Home program over the Texas Quality Network September 16, 1936. It
was a happy birthday, going out over WFAA Dallas, WBAP Fort Worth, KPRC Houston,
and W0AI, San Antonio. The program covers a large territory of the Southwest. It
is 100 per cent educational."

WQSU - OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

As usual Ohio is in full swing again, according to the report from Director
R. C. Higgy who sends this word:

"The Fall Quarter program of the Radio Junior College includes courses in Ohio
history, psychology — child development, a Radio Ghoir Festival, French, rural
economics, and English literature. Broadcasts from two to five times per week in
each of these courses have been arranged, many paralleling the regular University
course work. The Summer Quarter, 1936, completed the tenth quarter of the Radio
Junior College, with a total course enrollment of over 22,000, over 9,000 different
individuals participating. Large enrollments are being received from the more
sparsely settled counties of the state, indicating definitely that those persons
having fewer educational opportunities are tuning in the Radio Junior College courses
in large numbers. Audience analysis shows that 98.6$ of those enrolled have attended
high school, and 35$ hrve attended a college or university. WPA assistance in pro¬
viding office workers, materials, and postage will again be continued for the Fall
Quarter.

"A combined mail response and engineering survey of the W0SU audience has been
completed, and the re,suits published in mimeographed form. The analysis of the
station's mail by counties over a three year period is shown to compare very

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favorably with field intensity surveys made of the WOSU signal. Copies of this
report can be obtained upon application to WOSU.

"Three WPA projects are under way at WOSU for the Fall Quarter, 1936. An
orchestra project provides twenty-two professional musicians, an excellent orchestra
with several soloists, filling an important place on the station's programs.

The Radio Junior College assistance project, mentioned above, will be continued,
A new project, begun during the summer, will be continued, providing a group of
actors for the presentation of plays, and the reading of scripts.

"Several Ohio commercial stations will continue to rebroadcast WOSU programs,
forming a state-wide network for release of WOSU programs. These stations, during
the past year, have broadcast as much as twelve hours per week of WOSU programs,
all rebroadcast via radio. A complete statement explaining in detail the arrange¬
ment with all stations may be had upon request to WOSU."

WCAL - ST. OLAF COLLEGE

M. C. Jensen, manager of the station, spent the summer working as a consulting
radio engineer. He reports having done extensive field work.

MAD - UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

September 15 this station planned to move into its new studios in the $65,000
Memorial Radio Tower on the campus, reported Ted Beaird some weeks ago. More data
on this later.

KOAC - OREGON STATE AGRICULTURE COLLEGE

Luke L. Roberts reports, "KOAC was a pioneer in the field of parent education
radio-study clubs. Last year, which was the ! sixth, was the most successful so far
experienced. In addition to broadcasts over KOAC the programs were featured over
local stations in widely separated parts of the state by means of electrical
transcriptions made in the studios of KOAC."

FACILITIES IMPROVEMENTS

WBAA - PUPDUE UNIVERSITY

"During the month of August we extended our antennae towers end put up a new
cage antenna about twice as long as our old flat top. Wc have completely remodeled
our input equipment, and we now have the very last word, in equipment to meet all the
requirements of the commission. We have also purchased some RCA Velocities and
Eight-ball microphones. We are now in the process of equipping our four new studios
in the Union Building which were built for us in the new addition. The University
has just purchased a new concert grand Steinway piano for use in the new music studio.
.It has also purchased a complete RCA recording library which is one of the finest
things I have ever set eyes on. Every important musical work and master is repre¬
sented in this library. We are installing a special pickup in our Union Studios for
the broadcast of this collection."

WHA - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

Stepped up power to 5000 watts on September 16, 1936. Work now under way on a
fourth studio and four additional offices in Radio Hall.

WLBL, state-owned station at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, has secured an increase
in power to 5000 watts. Is building new transmitter, moving to new location, and
erecting a vertical radiator. Rebroadcasts many WHA features daily.

SEND IN YOUR REPORTS !

Scanned from the National Association of Educational Broadcasters Records
at the Wisconsin Historical Society as part of
"Unlocking the Airwaves: Revitalizing an Early Public and Educational Radio Collection."

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\\KWAVEs

A collaboration among the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities,
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